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Wednesday, August 25, 2010

I'm ready to call myself a quilter now

Yes, all because my spiderweb quilt is finished! This quilt is about as close to an heirloom as I'll ever make, I would imagine. I generally love simple quilts, but I love the intricacy of this one. LOVE it!

It was in progress less than 2 years, (started Oct. 2008) but it sure feels like it took longer than that. I thoroughly enjoyed piecing this quilt. Every single bit of it. All the colored pieces are scraps. It's hard to believe I've used that many different fabrics in my day! Most of the white pieces were scraps as well. That's not as hard for me to believe. :)The quilting had me intimidated to no end. I thought it was going to be ridiculously hard because the quilt top itself didn't lay flat. Starting out at a deficit in that area isn't a good sign. Besides, some of the intersections have 8 layers of fabric in them. Just look at all those seams! So I basted this quilt heavily, using 9 or 10 pins in each block. In the end, the quilting went super duper smooth. It was amazing. I felt a little foolish because I was so intimidated by it for so long. I have grown to LOVE my walking foot in the process. Immensely.

Here's a shot with the backing and binding. My local quilt shop owner did a fabulous job at picking out these fabrics. Fabulous! Do you wonder why I love her taste? Polka dots and stripes! They are the perfect compliment to the quilt top.

Here is a shot of the back where the quilting lines form a star. What a fun little surprise!

173 comments:

AmandaJean, It is magnificent. What a wonderful quilt. I too love scrappy quilts, just seeing all the bits and remembering where each one came from, or what project it was used in, is a treasure. Great idea on the quilting!

Woweeee! It's just gorgeous!!! I don't know about it being your only heirloom quilt though - i think any handmade quilt is heirloom-worthy. :-) I love to think about that when I am sewing one...imagining someone in the future running their hands over a quilt and thinking that Great Great Granny Georgia made this. Hehe!

Can you say more about how you quilted it? I just finished a top that has a geometric pattern out of strips and I wanted to quilt it in straight lines, somewhat similar to this. This will be the first time I didn't do a meandering free motion pattern. Are you saying you used a walking foot, not a free motion foot? How does that work?

Hooray! What an accomplishment! It is absolutely beautiful!I started a spiderweb a few months ago and lost steam, had to put it away for awhile because it was driving me crazy! But I think I'm ready to get it back out soon. You've inspired me!

I've considered you an amazing quilter for quite some time now so that's not news to me! This quilt is absolutely amazing and what makes it even better is that you love it and loved making it. It definitely shows! Just gorgeous!!!

You crack me up - as if you haven't already been an official quilter! This one, though, is just stunning! I love everything about it, from the scraps, to the backing and binding, to the quilting. Love how that quilting turned out on the back too. So gorgeous!

Scrap quilts are my favorite! I just made a baby quilt with 123 different fabrics. I can't wait to start one of these! You're scrap quilts have been a real inspiration and I refer to your blog all the time! Thanks for sharing - this quilt is just beautiful!

It came out beautifully! I've been tuned in for posts about this quilt ever since you started it, and am in the process of my own as well. It's been worrying me in the back of my mind how to quilt it, but I love your solution and am so much less daunted and more excited to work on mine again! Not looking forward to all those pins though!

When I first saw this quilt, I didn't think I liked it. Now that it is done it maybe, in my opinion, the best quilt you've done. I like how quilts transform until the last second you are done with them. Everytime I finish a quilt I sleep under it the same night! I like waking up and seeing it first thing.

This quilt is amazing! It *almost* makes me want to try a string quilt. ;)

And I love your straight line quilting. I've seen several string quilts with custom free motion quilting or meandering, but I think I like your quilting the best! (Another idea to file away for the string quilt that I'll never make! haha!)

It's always nice when you can "quilt away" those waves in quilts, isn't it? :) Been there, done that!

This is an absolute work of art and love. And it's wonderful that you used scraps, so each "web" will remind you of so many other quilts, some of which you probably gave away. You've inspired me to think about making a scrap quilt for that very reason.

This is a testament to commitment! Well done. I love the quilting and especially the surprise stars. You have a great ability to remind us that quilt projects can be broken into bite-sized pieces to make them less overwhelming. Almost two years in the making and look how worth it! Congrats.

Holeee Cow! Ya know, I never much cared for these spider web quilts, but YOU have changed that -- yours is beautiful! This isn't the first time you've done that either -- you have the most amazing eye Ms. Crazy. Love it. It's GORGEOUS. Congratulations on yet ANOTHER fabulous finish!!!

It's gorgeous! It definitely has that heirloom quilt feel. I love the star that the quilting made. You're definitely a great quilter. It's funny you said that, as I was cleaning thread out of my vacuum I was thinking about the time we had company over and there were threads on the floor in various parts of the house. My husband said that's what happens when you live with a quilter. Who me? After so many quilts it's funny how I still didn't feel worthy of that title. You are a quilter!!!

You rock, girl! Congrats on an AMAZING finish. I do love it, thinking about making one, but there's no way I can start something new. Right? This is just the sort of intricate quilt I am drawn to -- and never finish. Love, love, LOVE yours. I have a ton of scraps.

Love how your quilt turned out; I'm making the same one with a yellow center, but am only about half way through the piecing. Pls tell me how you quilted it so that you had a stars on the back. Did you just stitch quarter inch in from each seam? Always so much inspiration in your blog. thanks, Jam

WOW - that's one beautiful quilt. You did a wonderful job on this. I love scrap quilts. I have this one on my bucket list. And I know the feeling of having a top done and then I am afraid of quilting it, don't want to ruin it. Thanks for sharing.cindy

that is an amazing quilt. heirloom quality for sure. i love the way you quilted it! i love the fabrics! i love everything about this quilt! thanks for the inspiration. im saving my scraps for this one too. ill get back to you about it in probably 5 years, lol!

This is so beautiful! I love scrappy quilts because each little piece of fabric reminds you of the specific projects you originally bought them for...it's like a big scrapbook of memories you can sleep under!

You did a fabulous job and those 2 years of hard work really paid off!

GASP AMANDA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't decide if I want to use stunning, beautiful, breathtaking, work of art or magnificent. I need to use all of them... what a stunning, beautiful, breathtaking, magnificent work of art!!!

Amanda Jean I just love your blog! I have been following it for a while now. This post inspired me to make my own spider quilt. I have just started my own blog, still trying to get the hang of it. So much to learn, but really fun. Next week I am going to post about the spider quilt and will link back to this post. Thanks for all the inspiration! Lisa

Congratulations on such a wonderful finish!! I absolutely LOVE it and I'm glad you're pleased with it, too and are using it-- ENJOY! Thanks for posting the tutorial for it-- I'll definitely add that one to my future projects list!!